Episode 002: MicroConf & putting advice into action
Some thoughts and comments on a recent podcast episode of TheStartupChat with Steli Efti & Hiten Shah.
I give a ton of advice to people, most of them founders, sales professionals and entrepreneurs. One recurring theme I encounter is how rare it is that people put the advice into action.
During a recent episode of TheStartupChat I recorded together with Hiten Shah, we talked about how impressed we were with the attendees of MicroConf. The number of action-takers, of people who take advice and immediately put it into action, is so much higher than at most other conferences.
Do you start projects you don’t finish?
One of the attendees had an opt-in list of 600 mothers who had problems giving their kids chores. He wanted to build an iPhone app for them, had started to develop it but then stopped midway. Now he was sitting on this list of 600 people and had zero momentum.
That’s insane! He already had distribution, which is the hardest part for most people.
So we asked him: What’s the easiest thing you can do right now?
Rather than getting him to start working on the iPhone app again (which would be a major commitment of time and energy), we together came up with the idea of a simple PDF. A checklist for moms who want to become better at giving their kids chores.
He agreed to do this.
We looked at him and said: “Well, what’s stopping you from doing this right now? I mean really, right now. Go! Leave this place, go back to your hotel room, and put this together!”
We all have these uncompleted projects somewhere in our lives. So here’s how to resolve them:
Fast-action blueprint:
- Define your goal.
- Ask yourself: What’s the easiest thing you can do right now?
- Do it (right now).
Is this the best possible way to execute? No, of course not. You could be doing it better. But stop living in the land of could.
JFDI, because done is better than perfect.
Want to grow revenues?
Another guy was working on a project that wasn’t generating enough revenue. He wanted to make more money so he can invest more back into it.
What he was lacking were just focus and a specific goal — and he knew it himself. It’s advice he was giving to other people, but he his involvement in the project blinded him. All we did was talk with him to get that knowledge out of him.
He wasn’t sure how to best grow this business. Should he raise money from investors? Hire more people on the product side?
We just asked him three simple questions: How much money do you make today? How much money do you need to make in six months? How much more money do you need to make every single week to get to that number?
In fact, let’s turn this into something easily actionable.
The grow revenue blueprint:
- How much monthly revenue are you making now?
- How much money do you want to make in six months (or whatever your timeframe is)?
- Break down the difference: how much do you need to make every week to get to that number?
For the next six months, focus only on one thing: adding the incremental revenue. If an activity doesn’t contribute to that goal, stop, and ask yourself: what’s something else that I could be doing that would bring me closer to my revenue goal?
In this guys case, he had an email list too. In fact, I was on that list, I had signed up for it, but never became a customer. Do you know how many emails I’ve gotten from him about this since the day I signed up?
… One! One single email! He should be emailing his leads much more often than that. He knew it himself. It’s so obvious. The only possible explanation why he wasn’t already doing is was that he wasn’t focused on the revenue goal. He lacked focus and a specific goal.
Are YOU, dear reader, happy with your current revenues? If now… what’s YOUR specific goal? ;)
On giving & getting advice
The best advice you can possibly get is advice from people who are one or two steps ahead of you. What most people do though is to look for advice from people who are ten steps ahead of them. But all you gain to get from that is usually inspiration.
If you’ve never launched a product in your life, and you’re spending all your energy getting advice from Hiten Shah, or, let’s even say you spend your energy’s to try to get the attention of someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates… you could invest your energy’s so much better. Just look for the kid that has launched a product three months ago and makes $500 in revenue. The advice you can get from that person is so much more relatable and applicable to your current situation that it’s a lot more valuable to help you with your next step. The best advice is advice that’s actionable.
Want bigger results?
Whatever it is that you’re currently doing, even if you’re not where you want to be, there are some things that are already working. It’s tempting to search for the next big thing, the shiny new object, this piece of advice you heard about somewhere… Before you embark on that, just figure out the one thing out of all the things you’re currently doing that’s giving you the best ROI for your efforts. And then do more of it.
